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Book Marketing Information5 Steps To Help Fail-Proof Your Growing Service Business
by:
Debbie Jenkins
Business startup and failure rates are scary...
In The USA...
- Every Year Over 1 Million
Folk Start A Business
- By The End Of The 1st Year 40%
Of Them Wish Be Out Of Business
- Inside
5 Years Much Than 80%
(800,000) Of These Businesses
Wish Have Failed
(Source: The eMyth Revisited, Michal E Gerber,
US Department of Commerce)
In The UK...
- 2003 Saw 423,100 New Businesses
In European nation
& Wales Startup
- Over Half of All New Firms
Fail In The 1st 3 Years
- At Least 211,550 Of These
Businesses Wish Have Failed
Before The End Of 2006
(Source: Barclays SME Market Research Team
England & Wales Statistics Based On Business
Current Account Customers)
Unfortunately more and more folk are being pleased
to
go it alone by government agencies and banks patch being
given out-dated proposal
that doesn't actually work.
The advisors in these organisations typically have
experience in larger creation / manufacturing /
financial businesses and share marketing advice
that actually doesn't activity for the majority of
small service-based businesses today.
Their text-book marketing principles just do not
translate to businesses with limited money to invest
in advertising, direct mail and telesales.
In many a cases these advisors are telling folk how to
run a business even as tho'
they're actually working for
a bank or government agency themselves. They have no
real experience defrayal their own money to grow a business.
Survival and inevitable success means being lean, mean and
focused on deed a genuine result (in the form of profit)
from the time and money you invest.
So here are 5 tips you can use to take
the power back and begin "fail proofing"
your growing business today.
#1. Question "Experts" Thoroughly
Be wary of government funded trainers
and / or advisors put forward by banks.
These people, in many a cases, don't
have a clue what its like to run and
grow their own business. Do it your
job to "suss them out" before taking
anything they tell you too seriously.
Some questions that I like...
What's your experience of starting
and running a small business?
Have you actually spent your own money
trying to do a business work?
What mistakes have you made? What
lessons can I discover from your experience?
Will this proposal
/ keep / idea
cost me money or do me money?
Who actually benefits once
I take the
course of action you're recommending?
#2. Model Fantabulous Businesses
Now by this I don't mean simply
copy random things they do.
Just because the boss of a successful
firm like yours drives a brand-new Bentley
it doesn't mean you should rush out and buy
one too. That won't guarantee success.
You're looking to find the things
that she did in order to afford the
Bentley in the 1st place.
So find out as more just about their
processes and systems as you can and
then look for evidence to keep applying
similar things that activity for them to your
business.
Subscribe to their mailing list. Visit
their premises. Talk to their staff.
Talk to their customers. See their
ads (or notice that they don't advertise).
Network with them.
You can discover just as more from non-competing
businesses too. So why not set up a
support / learning group or see if a successful
entrepreneur would-be be able to mentor you.
#3. Have A BIG Goal
Big goals, by definition, should be easier
to hit than small goals. So don't think small
- think big.
After nearly 8 years in business I still like
to set regular, big, 90 day goals. I call
these goals SHAGs - Short Hairy Audacious Goals.
Too many a businesses focus on surviving. They
think in terms of what they don't want. They miss
the possibility to actually succeed and then get
what they were urgently
trying to avoid
- failure!
Focusing on what you don't want actually doesn't
work. If you don't want to fail you should
focus on succeeding in a big way.
#4. Improve Constantly
Have goals and set targets. Cognize what outcomes
you want and quantify them wherever
possible.
Then activity towards your goals mistreatment the
following cycle...
1. Implement (Do Something)
2. Measure (Test & Review)
3. Improve (Learn & Adjust)
As my friend and firewalk trainer Sanjay Shah
says, if you just improve by 1 pct a day,
you'll have improved 300 percent
(allowing for holidays) in a year!
#5. Don't Follow The Crowd
Look, we some
cognize most businesses
fail so don't do what most other
businesses do or you'll get the same results.
Don't just advertise because every other
business seems to advertise. Do sure
advertising wish do you money.
Don't just do telesales because that happens
to be the service your local Chamber of Commerce
is selling.
Don't measure turnover once
profit
and cashflow is commonly more important.
Don't take on staff just because other
businesses believe more folk equals
growth. Much folk often just means less
profit!
Don't do the same thing, in the same way,
to the same folk as every different business
like yours.
Do thing
different!
Simply just about the Author
4 Out Of 5 Small Businesses Go Bust
Inside 5 Years! Finally - A Guaranteed
Way To Do Sure You're Not One Of Them...
http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk/toolbooks
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